17 December 1903 marks the day mankind first flew with power and control. Orville and Wilbur Wright, the Wright Brothers, flew a series of four flights in an aircraft — the Wright Flyer — of their design on that historic Thursday. Wilbur Wright was the first to pilot the Wright Flyer that day and flew their aircraft made of spruce wood and muslin for 12 seconds over the sands of the Kill Devil Hills on that historic first flight. Powered by an engine of their design the Flyer was controlled in the pitch axis with a forward mounted elevator (the Wright Brothers had the opinion this provided for better crash protection) — control in the roll axis and the yaw axis was accomplished by cross-linking the wing warping mechanism with the rudders.

Though few of the aeronautical innovations of the Wright Brothers are utilized today their engineering practices they developed continue — and this may be the most undervalued yet most strategic of their accomplishments. The Wrights researched, tested and developed their aeronautical investigation in a systematic and logical fashion — which today would be called a research and testing program. The Wright Brothers stood on the shoulders of those who went before them, as well as contemporaries, and revolutionized aeronautical engineering as a result.

Fortunately for us the Wright Brothers were also excellent photographers — along with their talents as mechanics and engineers. Using the technology of the day many of their photographs, taken with view camera equipment, exist in archives so that we may have a sense of how they lived and worked. The images below are part of the Library of Congress archives which has thankfully placed them on-line at the Library of Congress Digital Collections page. These photographs show not only the historic first flight but also the Flyer’s ancestors, trials and crashes, as well as the living conditions the Wright Brothers experienced during their days in North Carolina at Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills. I’ve decided to present them unedited and unimproved as they seem to speak for themselves quite well and without the need for enhancement.

Wrecker Wright glider at Kitty Hawk on 10 October 1900 — Library of Congress photo taken by the Wright Brothers

Wilbur Wright after just landing a Wright glider design at Kitty Hawk in 1901, note the skid marks in the sand — Library of Congress photo taken by the Wright Brothers

Distinguished aviation figures visited the Kitty Hawk work shed of the Wright Brothers such as here in 1901 with Octave Chanute, Orville Wright and Edward Huffaker seated and Wilbur Wright standing — Library of Congress photo taken by the Wright Brothers

Camp kitchen used by the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk in 1902, note the canned food and dry goods — Library of Congress photo taken by the Wright Brothers

24 October 1902, Wilbur Wright piloting a Wright glider into a right hand turn at Kitty Hawk, note the wing warping with the right wing twisted upward and the left wing twisted downward — Library of Congress photo taken by the Wright Brothers

Kill Devil Hills on 24 November 1903, the large building used to house the Wright Flyer with the smaller building which doubled as a workshop and living quarters — Library of Congress photo taken by the Wright Brothers

Wright Flyer on its launching track (oriented downward and to the left) with the lifeguard unit of the Kill Devil Hills Life-Saving Station prior to the historic first flight — Library of Congress photo taken by the Wright Brothers

17 December 1903, Orville Wright piloting and Wilbur Wright standing to the side, first flight under power and under control! — Library of Congress photo taken by the Wright Brothers and John T. Daniels (member of the Kill Devil Hills Life-Saving Station)

There are many technical problems with Flyer I 1903. The plane was unstable, underpowered and had propellers that appeared only in 1908, exactly in the same year when the Wright brothers flew for the first time in front of credible witnesses. The brothers simply lied about their flights in 1903-1905. They built their planes in France in 1908 with french engines (Barriquand et Marre), french propellers and using the entire French flight experience of 1908.